What is Entertainment Law?
Entertainment law refers to the broad field of law that addresses a wide range of legal issues in the entertainment industry, from music and art to sporting events and book publishing. Some of the primary areas that fall under this umbrella include contract law, intellectual property law, tax law, employment law, business and corporate law, and litigation law.
Contract law governs agreements between various parties in the entertainment industry. For example, entertainment lawyers will draft and negotiate contracts that protect musicians, actors, directors, writers, producers and other participants from things such as copyright infringement and theft of their intellectual property. Contract law is also important for musicians and record companies, as it governs the licensing, royalty and payola arrangements they make.
Intellectual property law literally protects the ideas of creative professionals. Copyright law protects the original works created by artists, including music, books, films and all other forms of media. Copyright law also protects the written word, so it covers everything from books to movie scripts to grant accords. Patents protect new inventions, designs and technologies, as well as industrial processes that are completely new to the marketplace. Trademarks and geographic indications protect names , symbols and brands.
Tax law addresses the tax planning needs of entertainment professionals who may have significant domestic or international dealings or may live overseas but perform in the United States. With proprietary interests in intellectual property assets, some artists may be in a position to pass on large sums of wealth to their heirs. Entertainment lawyers advise clients on preservation of these valuable assets, as well as on a range of other estate planning matters.
Employment and labor law protect workers from dangerous conditions and unfair treatment in the workplace, including wage and hour issues. Some entertainment lawyers specialize in such issues as wrongful termination and sexual harassment. Business and corporate law address the myriad issues that arise when setting up and running a successful entertainment business, including the establishment of limited liability companies and other business structures, trademark registrations and tax liabilities.
Litigation law governs the various disputes that entertainment lawyers and their clients may face. Disputes often arise over the interpretation of contracts or over infringements of rights.
Entertainment law is a vital aspect of the creative world. It protects artists and others from exploitation, while allowing them to establish appropriate protections for their work.
Perks of an Entertainment Legal Intern Role
Like internships in other industries, entertainment legal internships offer students industry experience to launch their careers. They afford a unique opportunity to be directly involved with the entertainment sector and give students the chance to make contacts with industry professionals that could lead to a job after graduation. If you’re an entertainment law student at an accredited law school, it’s also a requirement of most bar associations that you have an internship before you can be considered for a position as a practicing lawyer. Anything less than a solid six-month internship is simply not enough. Entertainment law internships often pay at least minimum wage but can be a costly endeavor if the internship lasts more than a few months.
Though the payoff may not be immediate or obvious, pursuing an internship in entertainment law offers a wide array of benefits. In addition to gaining inside knowledge about the innumerable areas of this thriving industry, interns increase their marketability to firms and studios that are looking for candidates with strong résumés. They develop professional skills and gain valuable professional experience that will serve them well over time. They learn about the legal aspects of this rapidly changing industry and forge relationships with other industry professionals that could pay major dividends down the road. Getting an interview is hard enough, so any advantage you can get that will make you more competitive in the employment process is essential.
Pursuing the Right Internship for You
Searching for an internship can often be a daunting task. Start by thinking about your personal preferences and professional goals. For example, would you feel more comfortable working with a single supervisor in a small office or for a prominent company with many legal interns? Would you prefer to work at a small production company in town, or for a large corporation with national presence? Think of what you would hope to gain from the experience. For example, are you interested in gaining insight on the recruiting process for in-house counsel? Are you hoping to learn about legal risk management in music licensing?
Once you pinpoint what you hope to accomplish during your internship, gather information through hard work, persistence and analysis. Observe what other successful attorney associates and partners in your firm do. Research what other legal interns have learned from similar internships. What skills do they possess? What tasks do they accomplish? Look for open doors. Be creative in generating your own opportunities. Write down potential leads for internships from your searches and verify them before applying. Professional peers can also offer advice and leads. Check your career center for leads and check with your school’s student bar association for potential connections.
Make sure that your résumé stands out. Be thorough but concise when explaining past internships and jobs, focusing on specific tasks you performed and the skills acquired. To make your résumé more attractive to prospective employers, consider obtaining certifications or scholarly notes, or taking relevant courses. Your interests are often more valuable than you think. Pursue your passions. For instance, writing a blog post discussing your voluntary efforts that benefited a music charity could potentially come in handy when interviewing for internships at a music company.
Your cover letter is also important to get your foot in the door of potential interviews. Highlight relevant courses and activities in your cover letter. Depending on your circumstances, you may want to research and mention activities and events that the company has been involved in. However, do not name-drop in your cover letter unless it is a well-known name. When applying for a legal internship, demonstrate why you would be a valuable asset to the firm and why you would be interested in studying law or becoming a lawyer. Your cover letter should be an opportunity to show your personality.
After submitting your cover letter, résumé and application, preparing for the interview process is your next step. Before the interview, completely research the specifics of the position. Prepare for questions that might be asked and practice answering them. Consider electronic interviews, which have become a popular option for greater flexibility among a busy interview schedule. On the other hand, face-to-face interviews may last longer and allow for a deeper understanding of the firm. The interview could last from a day or two, up to a week.
Daily Tasks of an Entertainment Law Intern
Depending on the firm, a day in the life of an entertainment legal intern could include assisting with contract review and revisions, helping an attorney with legal research, and drafting materials for an attorney to use in court. For example, an entertainment law intern might be asked to draft an outline of key legal concepts to assist an attorney in cross-examining a witness during an arbitration. Or they might be asked to draft a subpoena for specific documents to be produced in a lawsuit. As an internship progresses, interns may find that their responsibilities increase and evolve. Later on, they may even be given the opportunity to conduct an unsupervised legal research assignment as a trial or arbitration project.
Necessary Skills to Succeed
As with most professional careers, there are going to be voluntary internships that you undertake in order to land a permanent position. As such, you will want to demonstrate during your internship that you are a reliable and motivated employee who can be trusted to complete assignments on time and with attention to detail. Having experience working in entertainment is key. Interning at an entertainment law firm does not guarantee that you will be hired permanently. A firm may have a full load of clients and no capacity for more, or the firm may assign you a myriad of other duties that are not in the legal realm. You may even find out from an internship that actual practice of entertainment law is not for you. On the other hand, your internship may guide you to the area of entertainment law that really excites you, or help you to make the right choice even a second or third internship .
In addition to experience in the entertainment industry, it is essential that you possess a firm knowledge of the general legal framework involved with the industry. You will be asked during your interview to discuss current issues in entertainment law. You should be well-versed on those topics so that you can converse intelligently with your interviewer. Important topics to discuss and read about now include music piracy, celebrity privacy rights, key developments in Intellectual Property like the cancellation of several antiquated precedents, digital media distribution, net neutrality, and more. You should also know a bit about the general makeup of the entertainment industry, from the studios to the guilds to the different rules and regulations that apply to each and the groups they represent.
What you May Face in an Entertainment Internship
Every experience is different, so your biggest hurdles may not be the same as those of your predecessor or even those of the other interns. We all face challenges, however, and it’s how you face them that counts. Challenges can be divided into two categories:
Communications:
It’s extremely easy to misunderstand or misinterpret what is being said when you are a new intern trying to grasp the intricacies of the work you’re being asked to do. You absolutely must ask questions and seek clarification. No one will think badly of you for doing so, especially if you ask before you begin working on something. You will waste far more time if you assume you know what your job is and find out later that you were wrong. Don’t let embarrassment or fear of looking uninformed stop you from speaking up and getting the answers you need.
You may also be misinterpreting or poorly communicating your own ideas and intentions. Be careful when discussing projects and always be open to discussion of them. If you don’t understand something, say so. Conversely, don’t be so quick to jump to conclusions that you don’t take the time to consider the opinions and suggestions of others. It may be difficult, but you must curb your natural desire to have all the answers immediately. It takes time to adjust and learn the ways and thoughts of others in your new workplace.
Knowledge Gaps:
It’s also important to be humble enough to realize that you may not know something and that you may have gaps in your knowledge. Now is the time to identify these gaps and address them. If you don’t understand something being said in a meeting, admit it. If a project crosses your desk that you aren’t immediately able to assist with, don’t panic. Turning to your supervisor and asking for help shows initiative and insight. You aren’t an entertainment law expert yet, but you’ve got the tools to become one. Don’t go it alone; seek help from those around you and revel in the additional knowledge they will impart to you.
You do want to eventually be able to do the work without any assistance, but it’s important to recognize that doing so takes time and experience. Embrace your role as an intern and don’t try to push too hard too fast. Allow yourself to absorb all that is going on around you. You’ll grasp what you need in due time for your future career.
Building Your Future in Entertainment Law
The first step towards a career in entertainment law may be an internship, but some entertainment law internships provide a successful platform for landing a job in the industry. After gaining experience and relationships through an internship, some of our graduates who studied entertainment law have become lawyers or non-lawyer executives in the business, while others have continued their education by pursuing an LLM in Entertainment Law. LLM programs provide concentrated studies in a particular field of law , such as communications and media law, intellectual property and privacy and technology law. In addition, many entertainment law professionals join professional organizations in their field of interest, such as the Association of Media and Entertainment Counsel. This professional association provides extensive resources to further an entertainment law career.